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The Dandelion Clock
I used to think that perhaps everything that was happening to me - my whole life - was just a memory. As if one moment I could be eleven, and playing in the sun, and the next I might - wake up, somehow, and find I was old and dying, and the day when I was eleven was just a bright, clear memory... Alex is an artist, preparing for an exhibition to mark the peak of his career. His life seems ordered and complete, but an impulsive trip back to the Italy of his childhood forces him to explore the unresolved questions of his past. There, in those seemingly innocent days, as he swam and played and explored the wild countryside with Jamie and Anna, Alex must surely find the key to so much of his later life. He has to experience again his first friendship with Jamie, and his first love for Anna; and to put together the pieces of a story which brought the three of them together more closely than they could understand, with a bond which seemed innocent but which resulted in tragedy. In this disturbing new novel Guy Burt explores the darker side of childhood love and friendship, and the fear and pain of growing up. Of Guy Burt's first novel, After The Hole, the critics wrote- 'A scintilla
- GenresFiction
Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
6 people are currently reading
247 people want to read
About the author
Guy Burt
3 books51 followersGuy Burt (he/him) is a novelist and BAFTA award-winning screenwriter.
Burt wrote his first novel, After the Hole, when he was 18. He went on to write two further novels, Sophie and The Dandelion Clock, and taught English for five years. When After the Hole was filmed (as The Hole, starring Thora Birch), Burt began writing for screen, and has become one of the top screenwriters working in Britain today. You can see his screenwriting credits here.
He now works on both novels and screenplays, and divides his time between England and Spain. He is married to philosopher Chon Tejedor and has two children.
Burt wrote his first novel, After the Hole, when he was 18. He went on to write two further novels, Sophie and The Dandelion Clock, and taught English for five years. When After the Hole was filmed (as The Hole, starring Thora Birch), Burt began writing for screen, and has become one of the top screenwriters working in Britain today. You can see his screenwriting credits here.
He now works on both novels and screenplays, and divides his time between England and Spain. He is married to philosopher Chon Tejedor and has two children.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
June 13, 2015
I have a sticker in my car that says "Some of my best friends are fictional." And in a way, that's very true. The books I like best are the ones with strong characterization, with characters who not only feel real to me, but who I come to love. This is a book like that- character driven more than plot driven, with characters that are easy to become attached to.
I first read this book almost exactly 15 years ago, when it was called The Dandelion Clock. I was in a London airport bookshop with an hour to kill before my flight home from an amazing study abroad experience at Oxford, and needed a book for the long trip. I selected it on a whim and then fell in love- it was one I always planned to keep and re-read. Years later I lost my original copy in a house fire, but I finally found a new edition (with this new title) a year or so ago. It waited patiently on my (lethal-height) To-Read shelf for a while, but when I learned that I would have an opportunity to return to my beloved England this April, I instantly knew which book would accompany me on the plane.
To be honest, I was a little afraid that I wouldn’t love it quite so much the second time (do we always love the same books at 35 as 20?). I need not have worried; in fact, I think I can officially list it among my very favorites.
There is so much that I love about this book- the incredibly nuanced characters, the beautiful writing, the atmospheric, sad and lovely tone. The only element which may trouble or annoy some is the curious narrative structure. The narrator, Alex, is from early childhood a thoughtful, unusual boy, with a fascinating but atypical view of the world. He has the ability to travel in his head back to exact memories from his life and get lost in them, lodged more in the world of his imagination than his current reality. This gift (which later leads to a career as an artist) is labeled strange and worrisome by his parents and teachers (he is tested for various disabilities, but is never diagnosed) and ridiculed by other children. The only one who finds a way of understanding him is his first, closest friend, Jamie (who I love, love, LOVE- SO much) and together with Jamie’s cousin Anna they spend what begins as an idyllic childhood running wild along the Italian coast. Things go very wrong, as often in life they do, and years later Alex is left trying to grasp why, and come to some sort of understanding and resolution over the events of his life, and Jamie's, and Anna's. So there is quite a bit of jumping around from different time periods and memories, as Alex himself "travels" back between the reality of his adult life and the often more vivid memories of his childhood and adolescence. Personally, I love the structure of the novel, because it seems so authentic to who Alex is as a character, and I think it gives the novel a poignant dream-like quality.
I first read this book almost exactly 15 years ago, when it was called The Dandelion Clock. I was in a London airport bookshop with an hour to kill before my flight home from an amazing study abroad experience at Oxford, and needed a book for the long trip. I selected it on a whim and then fell in love- it was one I always planned to keep and re-read. Years later I lost my original copy in a house fire, but I finally found a new edition (with this new title) a year or so ago. It waited patiently on my (lethal-height) To-Read shelf for a while, but when I learned that I would have an opportunity to return to my beloved England this April, I instantly knew which book would accompany me on the plane.
To be honest, I was a little afraid that I wouldn’t love it quite so much the second time (do we always love the same books at 35 as 20?). I need not have worried; in fact, I think I can officially list it among my very favorites.
There is so much that I love about this book- the incredibly nuanced characters, the beautiful writing, the atmospheric, sad and lovely tone. The only element which may trouble or annoy some is the curious narrative structure. The narrator, Alex, is from early childhood a thoughtful, unusual boy, with a fascinating but atypical view of the world. He has the ability to travel in his head back to exact memories from his life and get lost in them, lodged more in the world of his imagination than his current reality. This gift (which later leads to a career as an artist) is labeled strange and worrisome by his parents and teachers (he is tested for various disabilities, but is never diagnosed) and ridiculed by other children. The only one who finds a way of understanding him is his first, closest friend, Jamie (who I love, love, LOVE- SO much) and together with Jamie’s cousin Anna they spend what begins as an idyllic childhood running wild along the Italian coast. Things go very wrong, as often in life they do, and years later Alex is left trying to grasp why, and come to some sort of understanding and resolution over the events of his life, and Jamie's, and Anna's. So there is quite a bit of jumping around from different time periods and memories, as Alex himself "travels" back between the reality of his adult life and the often more vivid memories of his childhood and adolescence. Personally, I love the structure of the novel, because it seems so authentic to who Alex is as a character, and I think it gives the novel a poignant dream-like quality.
November 1, 2012
This book really upset me. It's profoundly sad in a way that stays with you long after you're done. I'm not spoiling anything - the majority of the book is told in flashback, so you know from the beginning WHAT happened. As the book progresses, you just figure out how and why. I really wish Burt would write more. Only three books, and nothing new in years and years! Guy, where are you? Come back! I need more!
May 20, 2020
Wow. This is one complex story line--Guy Burt, I give you HIGH praises for the intricate patterns, the continuous transitions from past to present to present to past. . . I almost gave up (several times) because I found myself lost in the dust too many times. But as the story progressed, you managed to hold my attention and soon I fell into the rhythm you so delicately orchestrated. This is a story I would not have wanted to miss. I sat in 2 (yes, two!) parking lots on my way home from work, wanting to finish the last chapters and see the main character through to the end. A beautiful expression of friendship, growth, realization, and how taking a firm hold of our past can lead us to understanding who we are in our present. Potential readers, if you start this book, have patience through the first half--riding the wave to the end will be well worth your while.
May 21, 2024
This novel is one of the best I have ever read. Perfect in every way. Engaging, heartrending plot; characters who become as real as the people next to you; and the last chapter expressed things I would never be able to put into words. That is Mr. Burt's talent: putting into words the things our hearts have said to us all along. This book is not just something I enjoyed; it's a part of my life now. I am ecstatic that the author will return to novel writing; I have long desired to read more from the special human being.
I've never quite understood why book titles change. I do prefer the original title: The Dandelion Clock.
I've never quite understood why book titles change. I do prefer the original title: The Dandelion Clock.
December 28, 2008
I first read this during my secondary school days, then forgot the name of the author and spent 3 years trying to find the book again. I love it. One of my favorite books and unlike many i read when i was younger I still enjoy reading this book!
March 15, 2013
Wish more people had read this book, I loved it.
May 29, 2024
I'm hugely grateful to everyone who's reviewed this, my third novel: thank you! Of the three books I wrote back in the 1990s, this is by far my favourite. While The Hole and Sophie are both psychological thrillers, The Dandelion Clock (or A Clock Without Hands, as it was published in the US) is far more character focused: a story about love and growing up and misunderstandings. It convinced me that in fact it was character – rather than plot – which most interested me; and now that I'm writing novels again, this conviction that character stories are what I love most is what's carrying me forwards in my writing. Thank you again to everyone who has read it 😊
– Guy Burt, Valencia, 2024
– Guy Burt, Valencia, 2024
January 17, 2019
This book starts slowly with an English artist returning to the long-deserted Italian home of his childhood. Almost immediately, with the first flashback to that childhood with his friends Jamie and Anna, the book begins a slow burn toward a climactic ending but Guy Burt's style is always understated, almost dispassionate.
The book's original title was The Dandelion Clock and there are frequent references to one throughout the book. A dandelion clock has no hands; it's a game played by English children who pluck a dandelion and puff at the seed-ball on top. However many puffs to blow them all away, that tells the time.
Several intertwined stories eventually woven together in a book that kept me up late for several nights. Highly recommended.
The book's original title was The Dandelion Clock and there are frequent references to one throughout the book. A dandelion clock has no hands; it's a game played by English children who pluck a dandelion and puff at the seed-ball on top. However many puffs to blow them all away, that tells the time.
Several intertwined stories eventually woven together in a book that kept me up late for several nights. Highly recommended.
November 20, 2022
Sooo many words for so little story.
It could have been a good novel, the story has potential, but.... too many switches between times, from one paragraph to the next - what is that supposed to be good for? I don't get it.
Plus so many hints regarding the ending of the story... I only kept reading, albeit more and more annoyed, because I wanted to know what it was all about. And then so little explanation, left was I with question marks all around.
And then a teenager who does not know what homosexual love is - give me a break!
It could have been a good novel, the story has potential, but.... too many switches between times, from one paragraph to the next - what is that supposed to be good for? I don't get it.
Plus so many hints regarding the ending of the story... I only kept reading, albeit more and more annoyed, because I wanted to know what it was all about. And then so little explanation, left was I with question marks all around.
And then a teenager who does not know what homosexual love is - give me a break!
December 12, 2017
This is one of my all time favorite novels. It’s the type of book you feel on your skin.
March 21, 2022
Quite a good book about coming of age for ten to twelve year olds.
March 30, 2025
"A Clock Without Hands" (also sometimes known under its alternative title "The Dandelion Clock") is one of my favourite thrillers ever.
It is a literary thriller and very much a slow-burn, but it had me hooked nonetheless. The characters feel like real people, their stories are told from Alex's point of view who as a child lived in a small Italian village, but is now an grown man (approx. 45-50), an artist, and normally lives in the UK but has now returned to his childhood home in Italy.
Call Me By Your Name reminded me a bit of this book with it's small town Italian setting and slow-burn, emotional and realistic plot. Like any Guy Burt book this one too has a phenomenal plot twist at the end. If you liked Call Me By Your Name and would like to read a similar book, then this one is for you.
It is a literary thriller and very much a slow-burn, but it had me hooked nonetheless. The characters feel like real people, their stories are told from Alex's point of view who as a child lived in a small Italian village, but is now an grown man (approx. 45-50), an artist, and normally lives in the UK but has now returned to his childhood home in Italy.
Call Me By Your Name reminded me a bit of this book with it's small town Italian setting and slow-burn, emotional and realistic plot. Like any Guy Burt book this one too has a phenomenal plot twist at the end. If you liked Call Me By Your Name and would like to read a similar book, then this one is for you.
August 24, 2010
I just really, really liked this book. It takes a little while to get into the unusual writing style. The story is not what you would call linear. It just back and forth in the time line with no warning. It works though. This story was different from Burt's other books in that there weren't exactly unexpected plot twists. There is very little that you don't see coming from a mile away. The drama is in watching it all unfold for the main character. This story was gripping, poignant, involved, and intricate. I finished it right before bedtime, and I lay there for another hour just letting my head wrap around the tale I had just finished. That is a sign of a good book in my opinion.
NOW, all that being said...there is a scene. It was uncomfortable (at least for me), and it was a bit more descriptive than I needed. It was important and it gave a lot of insight, but I would have preferred the insight and import to come packaged somewhat differently. You'll know what and when it is as soon as you arrive there, so just heads up.
Overall - Brilliant.
NOW, all that being said...there is a scene. It was uncomfortable (at least for me), and it was a bit more descriptive than I needed. It was important and it gave a lot of insight, but I would have preferred the insight and import to come packaged somewhat differently. You'll know what and when it is as soon as you arrive there, so just heads up.
Overall - Brilliant.
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January 31, 2011In the end, I wasn't sure how I felt about this book. I loved the 3 main characters, however, in the end, I was left with one thought: Why? The book simultaneously told the story of Alex and his 2 friends in various periods of life. The story of him as a child was a wonderful slice of childhood and I really enjoyed it. I was looking to find out how these 3 segments converge, but they never seem to. He supposedly at the end (and in older life) realized some major understanding, but I never knew what it was or why.
It is a relatively quick read, and beautifully written. But I can't help but think I missed the prequel or sequel.
It is a relatively quick read, and beautifully written. But I can't help but think I missed the prequel or sequel.
December 2, 2010
This is one of the best books that I've read in so so long!!! I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I finished it. This is a good indicator that it is at the top on my list. I wish I could find a discussion on it because it is so intrigueing and I need to bounce a lot of things off of some other readers.
June 7, 2015
A wonderfully written novel about loss of innocence of three youngsters over the course of a hot Italian summer in a quiet beach village.
The Italian village provides the perfect background. The almost total absence of adults allows Burt to create a Peter Pan type world, which of course will come undone.
The Italian village provides the perfect background. The almost total absence of adults allows Burt to create a Peter Pan type world, which of course will come undone.
July 17, 2007
Lovely bittersweet story that has reliable-yet-not narrator thinking his way through the relationships he build as one of a trio of friends and an incident of their shared summers that traces an inevitable road to tragedy in that future.
November 17, 2014
an amazing book with a great story with strong characters… great back and forwards in story telling… easily creates another world in your head… when i began to read it, it was always hard to leave the book…
September 16, 2016
Very good at inhabiting the minds of children and their necessarily blinkered but changing view of the world as they grow older because there is so much they are not aware of I am not surprised the author later wrote for children.
July 9, 2007
Loved this book - a charming and moving, if slightly sentimental, account of an artist trying to find meaning and explanations in his past life through his paintings and memories
February 6, 2009
One of my favorite books of the last several years. A great story about three youths and the happenings on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea - happenings that have long lasting consequences.
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June 11, 2009Lots of time shifts and confusion - but a well written novel indeed. Alex is a main character whom I will remember.
March 17, 2010
Ekt hierdie boek iewers verlede jaar gelees en dis fantasties! regtig 'n interessante meesleurende verhaal wat mens nogals aan die raai hou tot aan die einde
June 24, 2010
Very nice descriptions- you feel like you are a character in the story. The end tears at your heart, but it reminds you of life and the ups and downs of love
September 8, 2014
Moved around a lot, current, future, past and spent a lot of times on subjects with no follow up
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews